Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica

The Legislative Assembly (Spanish: Asamblea Legislativa) forms the unicameral legislative branch of the Costa Rican government. The national congress building is located in the capital city, San José, specifically in Carmen district of the San José canton.

Legislative Assembly

Asamblea Legislativa de la Republica de Costa Rica
Type
Type
Leadership
Eduardo Newton Cruickshank Smith (PRN)
Vice president
Jorge Luis Fonseca Fonseca (PLN)
Secretary
María Vita Monge Granados (PUSC)
Structure
Seats57
Political groups
Government (36)
  •   PLN (17)
  •   PAC (10)
  •   PRN (7)
  •   Independent (1)
  •   PRSC (1)

Opposition (21)

Elections
Party-list proportional representation
Modified Hare quota
Closed list
Last election
February 4, 2018
Next election
February 6, 2022
Meeting place
Session room of the Asamblea Legislativa building.
Website
http://www.asamblea.go.cr/
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The Legislative Assembly is composed of 57 deputies, (Spanish: diputados), who are elected by direct, universal, popular vote on a closed party list proportional representation basis, by province, for four-year terms. A 1949 constitutional amendment prevents deputies from serving for two successive terms, though a deputy may run for an Assembly seat again after sitting out a term. Currently a proposal to switch to a Mixed-member proportional representation based on the German system is under discussion .[1]

Composition

This table shows the awarded seats by province for the 2018-2022 period.

Seat allocation
Province Number of seats Population
(as of 2011 census)
San José 19 1,404,242
 Alajuela 11 848,146
Cartago 7 490,903
 Heredia 6 433,677
 Guanacaste 4 326,953
 Puntarenas 5 410,929
 Limón 5 386,862

Directorate

Following the 2018 legislative election, the President of the Legislative Assembly was elected in the person of Carolina Herrera Hidalgo, a Citizens' Action Party's member with the support of most of the plenary except for the then unified National Restoration Party's group. The Directory's Secretary went to the National Liberation Party's deputy Luis Fernando Chacon and the Vice Presidency went to Social Christian deputy Inés Solís.

Parties in Legislative Assembly, 2018-2022
Political Parties in, 2018-2022
Party Name (English) Party Name (Spanish) Abbrev. Seats Percentage of Assembly Party Flag
National Liberation Party Partido Liberación Nacional PLN 17 29.82%
Citizens' Action Party Partido Acción Ciudadana PAC 10 17.54%
Social Christian Unity Party Partido Unidad Social Cristiana PUSC 9 15.79%
National Restoration Party Partido Restauración Nacional PREN 7 12.28%
New Republic Bloc (formerly PREN) Bloque Nueva República NR 6 12.28%
National Integration Party Partido Integración Nacional PIN 2 3.51%
Social Christian Republican Party Partido Republicano Social Cristiano PRSC 1 1.51%
Broad Front Frente Amplio FA 1 1.75%
New Generation Party (formerly PIN) Partido Nueva Generación PNG 1 1.75%
Independent Politician Diputado Independiente Ind 3 7.02%
1 10 17 9 1 2 7 6 1 3
FA PAC PLN PUSC PR PIN PRN PNR PNG Ind

Premises

On October 2020 the new Asamblea Legislativa building was inaugurated for sessions of the legislative body. Its construction started on 7 March 2018, and has eighteen floors. It is located in Carmen district of San José canton.[2]

The Assembly used to meet in the Edificio Central (Central Building), located immediately east of the current building. Work began on that previous building in 1937, with the plan of having it serve as the new presidential palace. However since much of the building materials were imported from Germany and Czechoslovakia, the onset of the Second World War put a halt to the project. Work did not restarted until 1957, but by 1958 the legislature was installed and operating in its new premises.

History
Main article: History of the Costa Rican legislature

The foundations of the Legislative Assembly date back to the establishment of various courts and congresses in New Spain.[3] The modern assembly was created in the aftermath of the Costa Rican Civil War that deposed Teodoro Picado Michalski in 1948. José Figueres Ferrer headed a ruling junta that oversaw the election of a Constituent Assembly. Between 1948 and 1949, this Constituent Assembly created the Constitution of Costa Rica which lays forth the rules governing the assembly today.[4]

During each four-year legislative session, various political parties have occupied majority, minority, and coalition caucuses in the assembly.

Central American Parliament

Costa Rica is the only Spanish-speaking Central American country not to return deputies to the supranational Central American Parliament.

See also

Notes
  1. Originally elected under National Restoration list
  2. Originally elected under National Integration list

References
  1. Carmona, Fiorella (29 March 2019). "Congreso se acerca al cambio en sistema de elección de diputados". Revista Pulso. Retrieved 28 March 2019.
  2. Ramírez, Alexánder (17 February 2020). "Así está quedando el nuevo edificio del Congreso". crhoy.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  3. Clotilde Obregón Quesada Clotilde (2007). Las Constituciones de Costa Rica. Tomo I. San José, Costa Rica: Editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica. ISBN 978-9968-936-91-0.
  4. Dieter Nohlen (2005-04-14). Elections in the Americas A Data Handbook Volume 1: North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-928357-6.

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